I’ve been enjoying wandering through my old haunts in San Francisco. I lived on this block for ten years during and after graduate school.
Compared to Tokyo, I always wonder, where is everybody? It seems they are either indoors or in their cars.
In San Francisco, we live on the ground floor. I miss the endless city views from our Tokyo balcony.
もう紹介したかもしれないのですが、Shu Kugeという漫画家がこの地図を描いてくれました。１３年前、初めて作ったビジネスのホームページにも素敵な地図とスタッフの似顔絵を描いてくれました。今回も地図を描いてもらって嬉しいです。「ソーシャル・モデルズ」は東京とサンフランシスコをつなぐデザイン・リサーチ会社です。
Maybe you have seen this already? Comic artist Shu Kuge made this map showing how the ocean connects Tokyo and San Francisco. For my first business website thirteen years ago, Shu drew a very memorable office map and staff avatars. I am lucky that he has created something new for Social Models, my new design research studio that is co-located in these two great port cities.
Blue Lug という幡ヶ谷の自転車の店は、４周年記念を代々木公園で祝いました。今、お店は私が７年前にサンフランシスコで買った自転車をオーバーホールしてくれています。楽しみにしています。
Congratulations on four years, Blue Lug. The Hatagaya shop is overhauling my 7 year old Sully bike that I brought from San Francisco. Amazingly, the bike repair guys know Freewheel, the store on Valencia Street where I bought it. They confirmed that Freewheel, and not me personally, had originally assembled the bike.
お花見に色々な種類の人たちが集まってきます。真ん中は、サンフランシスコから来た友達で、左にはカップル、右にはコスプレのグループが居ます。次も、花見で見た色々な人たちの写真を載せます。
This year I tried to focus on the different tribes that assemble beneath the cherry trees for hanami season in Tokyo. There were some scenes I expected, and many that were surprises. In this photo of Shinjuku Gyoen, my good friend from San Francisco’s back is in the middle, with a couple on the left and cosplayers on the right.
San Francisco is often warmer in winter than summer. The ocean is just a bike ride away.
「雪鳥」という英語の表現を聞いたことがありますか。カリフォルニア人も使いません。雪が好きな意味ではありません。ニューヨークの高齢者は冬、フロリダ州に行くという意味です。私はまだ高齢者ではないですが、冬が苦手です。
今年の冬、サンフランシスコで仕事をしていました。太平洋の「雪鳥」になりました。東京に引っ越すの前は、大学院生のときから、ずっとサンフランシスコに住んでいました。太平洋の二つの都市に住むことは刺激になります。、
Even my California friends misunderstand this term. They think it might be a bird that loves the snow. No, it’s an expression in the US’s Northeast to describe often elderly people who spend the winters in Florida.
This year, I’ve prematurely become a Pacific snowbird, spending the winter working in San Francisco, where I lived almost my entire adult life before moving to Tokyo. Living in two Pacific Coast cities is very stimulating.
サンフランシスコでよく見かけるアエオニウムを東京のマンションで育てています。冬は、部屋の中の方がいいと思います。形や色が大好きです。カナリー諸島から来た植物です。
I see this aeonium succulent often in San Francisco, and decided to grow it in my Tokyo apartment. I love its shape and the its origins in the Canary Islands. I’ve kept mine indoors in the winter.
よく見てみると、５種類のヤシの木が見えます。サンフランシスコのような肌寒い気候でも、いろいろなヤシを育てられます。背景には、高級マンションが完成しました。
If you look carefully, you can see there are five different palm trees in this photograph.
San Francisco is often windy and cool. Despite the fact that palms thrive in many cool climates, somehow seeing them gives us the illusion of being somewhere warmer and exotic.
Beyond my garden, the old car dealership and repair shop have been torn down and replaced with luxury housing and a Whole Foods. The top floor apartments will rent for over $8,000 per month.
サンフランシスコで一番好きな歩道の庭が家の近くにあります。この庭のオーナーはランドスケープのプロです。壊れた植木鉢を使っているのがとても良いアイデアだと思います。
Just down the street from me in San Francisco lives a Swiss landscape designer. His sidewalk garden, and especially this broken pot planted with succulents, is my favorite.
サンフランシスコの庭に植えたとき、この「ユスラヤシ」というヤシの木は５０センチしかありませんでした。１３年経って、こんなに大きくなりました。初秋はサンフランシスコにまたいました。
It’s hard to believe I planted this cold-hardy King palm in 2000 when it was half a meter tall. Now it’s the tallest tree in my San Francisco back garden. Below its reflection is the 100 year old, redwood “butler’s pantry” we removed from the apartment during the renovation. When I was there this fall, I up-lit the trunk.
仕事で、二ヶ月間サンフランシスコにいました。今年最後のベランダのアサガオが東京から送られてきました。切手もアサガオです。ゆっくり開いてくださいと書いてありました。
I have been in San Francisco the past two months for work, so it was a great pleasure to receive this letter from home. Inside is the very last balcony morning glory flower of this year. I love that the stamps are morning glory and butterfly. “Open it slowly.”
森林生態系保護地域のなかで、「丸八」という木生シダが見えます。巨大な木生シダはニュージーランドとサンフランシスコを思い出します。
Inside the fenced-in Nature Sanctuary, we saw this lovely native fern tree.
I picked up three short kikyou plants at the home center, without knowing much about them. Later I learned that kikyou, also known as bellflower, are one of Japan’s seven fall flowers (yet oddly active in summer). Kikyou is also related to campanula, which spread rapidly in my shady San Francisco garden with abundant purple flowers.
In the (film) photo background, you can see the sprouts of New York tomatoes that I grew from seeds. I’ve shared the seedlings with many friends already.
I also discovered these cool black and white Japanese crests (kamon) based on kikyou. (Source: Wikipedia).
Tokyo Green Space 